Forecast keeps improving for Green Bay, relatively speaking

Posted by Mike Florio on January 5, 2014, 7:32 AM EDT

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The Ice Bowl won’t have a sequel, after all.

Our friends at Weather.com continue to adjust the Sunday forecast for Green Bay to reflect higher temperatures at game time. Currently, the mercury is expected to be in the range of five degrees at kickoff.

While hardly swimsuit weather, it’s roughly 10 degrees warmer than the forecast reflected just a couple of days ago.

A wind chill warning remains in effect as of 6:00 p.m. CT, at which time the game will likely still be in the third quarter.

The best news for the NFL, the teams, and anyone else attending the game is that conditions matching the original Ice Bowl were missed by only one day. If the game were kicking off at 3:40 p.m. CT on Monday, the temperature would be (based on current forecasts) 13 below — the same temperature from that 1967 NFL championship game between the Cowboys and Packers.

Regardless, it’ll still be cold. So cold that fans will receive free hand warmers and free coffee and hot chocolate at Sunday’s game.

Bad news for the millionaire professional football-watching set. If the winter weather doesn’t deliver some excuse for a sunny Super Bowl junket every year, they’ll have to pivot their lobby toward spring football, i.e. a 16-team playoff in March.